The public leaks of classified NSA and CIA hacking tools in 2016 and 2017 appear to have leveled the playing field for nation-state cybercriminals to some extent, new research shows.
Threat intelligence firm DarkOwl recently analyzed Dark Web data gathered from public and proprietary sources and found the leaked cyber weapons have strengthened the ability of emerging nation-state actors to attack rivals and project attribution to others.
The NSA and CIA data — released publicly by a group called the Shadow Brokers and WikiLeaks, respectively — included an NSA espionage and mass-surveillance system called UNITEDRAKE, a multiplatform CIA malware suite called HIVE, and numerous documents describing sophisticated false-flag and other cyber-offense tactics.
The leaked cyber weapons have given adversaries new ways to capture text, video, and images from target systems, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart TVs; attack smart vehicles; hide implants in Windows and other operating systems; and conduct a range of other surreptitious actions. Significantly, the leaks also made widely available capabilities that let attackers conceal the origins of an attack or to make it appear as if an attack originated from somewhere else entirely.
Details on the NSA and CIA tools and processes have been extensively studied on the Dark Web and are now part of the arsenal of everyone from nation-state actors to ordinary cybercriminals, DarkOwl says. "The wide dissemination of cyber weapons from the NSA and CIA has changed the international cyber battle space considerably," says Andrew Lewman, vice president at DarkOwl. "Sophisticated, weapons-grade cyber tools are available on the Dark Web and [are creating] numerous challenges in determining who could be b ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
